Resident request prompts town to look into school zone safety

By Laura Bohnert

On April 19, local Whitecourt resident Rhonda Chatman sent a letter to town council requesting the Town of Whitecourt look into the amendment of school zone hours. Chatman expressed concern that the changing zone times could create confusion for drivers, increasing the risk for those designated zones. In response to the request, town council requested additional information be acquired in order to determine the appropriate action to take.

An official decision regarding the request has yet to be made; however, an information report has been compiled and submitted to the Policies and Priorities Committee for review.

The report submitted to council includes a recommendation by the administration that changing the times when school zone restrictions are in effect is not supported by current research. This conclusion was reached based on current additional safety programs which are in effect, as well as the fact that speed limits are being restricted during the times of the day when student traffic is highest.

Despite the fact that statistics show driver errors related to speed in school zones to have a greater chance of decreasing if the school zone is in effect for a full day, administration supports that the alternative safety implementations that have been put in place by the Town of Whitecourt have a greater effect on the reduction of risk than would the modification of school zone times.

The Town of Whitecourt has taken steps to provide school zone crossing guard programs, interactive speed notification signs, permanent inlaid pavement markings, high visibility crossing signage, pedestrian activated crossing lights, parking restrictions, photo radar, and police enforcement, and to develop proper pick-up locations to increase student safety in school zone areas.

Speed limits for school zones and standard school zone times are currently set by provincial law; however, individual municipalities are able to alter these time restrictions. For this reason, school zone times are not consistent across the province. In 2013, the Province of Alberta undertook an initiative to review school zone times with the intention of standardizing the minimum times school zones would be in effect. There is currently wide variation in the range between start and end times, an issue that is still under consideration within the province.

The Province of Alberta’s study on the topic has yet to be released; however, once the province has completed its review, the town will be required to adhere to the new speed zone regulations.